Ukraine develops hypersonic cruise missile

The Yuzhnoye State Design Office is jointly developing with the State Space Agency of Ukraine the new hypersonic cruise missile.

The press-service of “Yuzhnoye” design bureau released video footage showing a new concept of high-altitude hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicles, includes the project of a hypersonic cruise missile.

The development of new hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle is an ongoing process of search for new technological solutions. It was reported that, to date, “Yuzhnoye” develops the components of new hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicles and has been carrying out important work into high-temperature materials applicable to hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicles.

The new missile would constitute a maneuvering, high-altitude hypersonic cruise missile. The missile will be equipped with the solid-fuel engine for booster stage accelerates it to supersonic speeds and supersonic combusting ramjet engine for hypersonic flight.

Publicly available reports indicate that the new Ukrainian hypersonic cruise missile will be able to reach hypersonic speeds and to exceed a speed of 1,700 m/s. The range of the new missile is estimated to be 300 to 1750 kilometers.

The hypersonic weapon’s immense destructive power will result from kinetic energy. This phenomenon makes hypersonic weapons well suited to attacking hardened or deeply buried targets such as bunkers or nuclear and biological-weapon storage facilities.

Unlike the ballistic path followed by an ICBM plummeting toward its target, a hypersonic cruise missile have very high-speed, high-altitude flight profile, and maneuverability.

According to the HuffPost News, hypersonic missiles increase the speed of precision-guided munitions dramatically. One change they introduce is tactical, making it hard to defend a target. The other change is shifting the tempo of war by eliminating some of the delays imposed by the weight and quantity of weapons and supplies. The development of hypersonic missiles systems is, however, problematic from a geopolitical perspective.